"To Build a Fire" By Jack London Part 1: A summary of the novel, including the main characters, setting, plot, and major conflicts. "To Build A Fire" by Jack London is a third-person account of a man's struggle to trek across the Yukon Territory on foot in sub-zero temperatures. The temperatures drop far below what the hiker had anticipated, but he continues on his dangerous journey unaware of how cold it really is. In the beginning of the story, the man makes consistent progress in his journey and has high hopes that he will make it to camp only a little after dark. As he ventures further into his journey, the temperatures drop and the man becomes concerned with his wellbeing.
David Durr Professor Donald Carey ENGL 1302 1 October 2012 In the short story “To Build a Fire” Jack London writes of a man who attempts to journey on the Yukon trail at a time of year when the Yukon is at a temperature of, at most, fifty degrees below zero. The man is hubristic and does not listen to the old-timer on Sulphur creek who warns him to always travel with a partner when the temperature is more than fifty degrees below zero. Though the man has no human companion, he is not alone. His fury comrade is a wolf dog. The canine considers his master nothing more than a provider of fire and one that has the “sound of whip-lashes in his voice” (London 131).
In “To Build a Fire” the narrator plans to travel through the dangerous Yukon to a distant mining camp to meet up with some of his companions. It is his first winter there and he is called a “chechaquo”, a newcomer to the extreme subzero temperatures. Although he is warned by the old man from Sulphur Creek not to go out alone in the freezing weather, he does so anyway but brings a dog along with him. London writes of the dog, “Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment” (#). The man is very observant but doesn’t make connections to what he should watch out for so the dog’s actions tell of danger.
Nature is very powerful and a strong theme in “to Build a Fire”. London talks throughout the story about the freezing temperatures, fire, and water. The conflict that is significant between the men is that the new comer was very foolish in his decision to travel in the weather that day. The old-timer at Sulphur Creek warns him about traveling in fifty below zero weather. He also tells him that if he is going to travel in the Klondike in weather like this that he needs a travelling partner.
From the first time he needed to make a fire to him beating his hands against his chest and legs to get circulation flowing again. Climax: There were two climaxes. One was when he fell in the water and the other was when he built the first fire to possibly save his life and the snow fell on it. Falling Action: In a last ditch effort the man tried to run to camp but couldn’t. Then he sat down and slowly drited from sleep to death.
The man just had to accept death after going through different stages before he can come to terms with it. He than becomes depressed and goes into panic, realizing he cannot fight anymore so he just lays back and lets death take him away. In build a fire the internal and external conflicts both get resolved by the main character. The resolution to the conflicts comes when when the man accepts his fate and sits down to die. He tries to survive so he gets up and begins to run only to collapse in exhaustion, and finally, as the dog watches faithfully nearby, numbness fills his freezing body.
Piggy continue to complain about the inefficient group effort in surviving. Suddenly a nearby tree catches on fire and Piggy realize that the six year old boy who talked about the “beastie” is gone. With things going bad, the remaining boys in the group pretend nothing happened. Chapter 3: Jack attempts to hunt a pig for the second time but the pig escaped.
The mountains sent back his whistle and his shout, but no dog was to be seen. Rip decided to return to the scene of the last evening’s party. “If I meet any of those men,” he said to himself, “ I’ll demand my dog and gun.” As he stood up to walk, he found that his legs seemed stiffer than usual; he felt pains in his legs and his back. “ These mountain beds are not good for the health,” thought Rip. “ If this adventure puts me to bed sick, I shall hear nothing pleasant from Dame Van
London also presented Darwin’s idea of survival of the fittest in his story. Darwin’s idea implies that those best adapted to particular conditions will succeed in the long run. In relation to “To Build A Fire,” London explains how the man wanders through Alaska, where it is 75 degrees below zero, and eventually fails to make it to his destination. The man back at home had warned him of the dangers of Alaska’s winter, but he had simply laughed it off and casually taken on the challenge. Soon after, though, he was aware of the fact that it was extremely cold and life threatening to travel on the trail at that time.
The snowball missed and caused a ripple effect on all the people of Deptford. Similarly in the novel The Manticore, David Staunton who was the son of Percy Boy Staunton feels guilt for becoming the person least wanted to be like. In both the novels the characters feel immense guilt, try to ignore this feeling, and then realize that recognition and assessment of their actions is inevitable before inner peace can be obtained. In Fifth Business Dunstan Ramsay feels guilty because the snowball that was planned to strike him instead hit Mrs. Dempster. The snowball caused her to go into premature labour.